First Contact
by luvsanime02
Summary: Relena is once again in danger of being kidnapped, but she isn't going to let them capture her this time. This is the fourth story in Navigation, a fem!Heero series
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Gundam Wing, and am making no money off of this fic.

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 **First Contact** by luvsanime02

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Chapter 1

Relena's not sure why she was asked to be present at this meeting. The Earth parliament members of the ESUN have been attending this conference all week, and frankly, she's been bored out of her mind the whole time. Not as badly as Heero has been while working behind the scenes with her security team, but still, Relena's long since run out of ways to quietly amuse herself, and is seriously contemplating bringing some Sudoku puzzles or something with her to the next meeting to try and save what's left of her sanity.

So why these three fellow parliament members want to meet with Relena now in private is beyond her. She agrees with none of them about imposing an increase in taxes onto the colonies. And Relena especially does not share a similar opinion with Senator Hittun, who she knows is secretly hoping that these talks, fruitless though they are, will open the door for future heavy taxation against Mars.

Do these three think that they can buy her brother's compliance by meeting with her in person first? She could have told them not to bother if they'd mentioned their reasoning to her beforehand. Relena's barely spoken to her brother in years. In her whole life, really.

She agreed to attend this private meeting, though, on the slight chance that they might want to discuss something else instead. Besides, even if Mars and her brother is what these three want to talk about with her, it's better for Relena to know that now. Forewarned is forearmed, after all.

"You see, Miss Peacecraft," Senator Hittun says, after the general meaningless greetings are over with, "we want to more closely examine the economic repercussions that a hung committee will have on this matter. Ideally, we want everyone to come to a happy consensus, of course."

Of course they do. Every one of them wants all of the other members of Earth's parliament to agree with their ideals. Relena mentally scorns these three for being so naïve. Not even a war is enough to make everyone agree with each other, she knows. They should have learned that too, years ago.

Relena leans back in her chair with an internal sigh, refusing to show on her face any of the tiredness that she feels inside. "The problem, gentlemen, is that the economic repercussions for Earth are negligible. The same cannot be said for the colonies if this proposal goes forward. The people would rebel."

She honestly believes that even if all of Earth's parliament members come to a unanimous agreement to increase taxation against the colonies, which they will never actually do, the decision will be appealed and overturned in a matter of years, once the situation in the colonies becomes truly restless.

The people of the colonies rebelled against Earth years ago, and Earth will never let them forget that. The topic of this week-long conference is just one issue in a long line of ways that the Earth side of the ESUN has been trying, subtly or not, to condemn the people of the colonies for daring to threaten them years ago.

Governor Kreely laughs. It would sound more believable if he wasn't so loud. "Come now, Miss Peacecraft, surely you can understand that there's no real danger of that. The colonies have been subdued by us time and time again. By now, they must know that we, the citizens of Earth, will always prevail. I hardly think they're going to raise a fuss over some measly credits."

Those 'measly credits' he and the others are proposing to take from the colonies would crash the L2 colony cluster's financial market within a decade.

Relena is considering how best to phrase her response when someone knocks on the door. A moment later, one of the hotel staff enters and serves them all tea, though Relena can't recall anyone ordering anything. Most likely, someone set it up beforehand to be delivered now.

"Perhaps if you stepped up to the podium?" suggests Senator Hittun. "To give the others some reassurances of the low risks and high gain there is to be had from this proposal?"

Do these three men really think that Relena's so ignorant of the economical repercussions? Or do they believe that they can somehow intimidate her with this show of solidarity?

Or are they trying something else?

A cup of tea is sitting innocently in front of her. Relena scoops up some sugar and stirs it in, looking at her swirling reflection on the liquid's surface. She doesn't even want tea right now, but she knows that it would be rude to refuse.

Relena's hand freezes when she notices, out of the very corner of her eye, that all three of them are suddenly watching her every movement intently.

It could just be that they're impatiently waiting for her response to their suggestion. That's probably what it is, she tries to reassure herself, but Relena can't quite quell the chills that run down her spine. She's being silly, isn't she?

Relena lifts her head, and immediately the three of them all seem preoccupied with their own teas, or their paperwork. Did she only imagine their interest in her? She doesn't think so.

"Is there something wrong with your tea, Madam?"

Relena blinks in surprise, reminded that the hotel employee is still in the room. He's giving her an anxious look, but under that she senses that he's impatient about something.

Relena forces herself to relax her tight hold on the spoon, and then she picks up the cup and swirls the liquid gently. They're all staring at her again, though they're pretending to be occupied. Relena knows that she's not just being paranoid.

Briefly, she thinks of Heero's likely response if Relena were to actually drink the tea.

"No, I'm sorry. I was lost in thought. It smells divine," she assures the man, trying her best to look unaware. Her heart is pounding so hard right now that she doesn't know how everyone else can't hear it in the quiet of the room.

Senator Miles takes a sip from his own cup, being very ostentatious about it. "An import, actually. Blackberry. I ordered it to be brought up."

His words are meant to soothe her. They don't, though Relena smiles falsely at him in return. The color is all wrong for blackberry tea. "How lovely," she says, keeping her voice calm through supreme effort and years of experience.

Slowly, Relena lifts the cup and brings the liquid gently to her lips. Keeping her mouth tightly closed, she swallows, waits a moment, and then lowers the cup a little, picking up a napkin to sneakily wipe off the excess tea from her lips. She doesn't know how strong whatever they've put in there is, so Relena forces herself to make an appreciative hum and pretend to take another drink, repeating the process.

"Gentlemen," she says, slowly lowering the cup back towards the table, "I'm afraid that we don't quite see eye-to-eye in regards to this matter. The people's hearts will not be so easily cowed. I think. They'll do. Whatever. Is…"

Relena droops forward, like her head is suddenly too heavy to keep upright, and lets the cup drop from her fingers before it reaches the table. It falls and spills over, the cup cracking. Hopefully, that'll be enough to keep them from realizing that she didn't actually consume any of the tea.

If she's wrong about this, she's going to feel so ridiculous in a few seconds. Relena's feeling a little silly already, even while she's nervously awaiting their reactions.

One of them laughs, this time low and dark. She hides a shiver.

"See, that worked well enough." The voice belongs to Senator Hittun. There's another knock at the door. It opens, and then there's silence before suddenly someone's hands are grabbing her arms. Relena almost screams in surprise, and it takes a tremendous amount of effort not to tense up too much when she's pulled sideways out of her chair.

Relena wants to clench her teeth tightly together in anger. She wants to hit her assailants, to fight and scream and call out for Heero, but she forces herself to be still instead. Calm. She has to remain calm. If she lashes out now, they'll have no trouble subduing her for real. She has to wait until the right moment.

"Take her to the room and keep an eye on her. I'll begin the proceedings for the next step." Governor Kreely, this time.

That's the last thing Relena hears before she is carried out of the room and off to somewhere unknown.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Relena's practically holding her breath so that she won't tense up and struggle. The men carrying her are at least doing their utmost to be careful, one of them supporting her shoulders while the other is gripping her calves. Being carried is not easing her feelings of helplessness any, but at least they apparently care somewhat about her physical well-being.

After drugging her. Right.

Briefly, Relena wonders if she should scream for help. This is a large hotel, and there are many guests staying here, including any parliament members who don't live in the city. If she screams, surely someone will hear her.

But then she'll lose the element of surprise, and her captors will know that Relena's awake and take measures to keep her restrained. She doesn't want that, most of all. She's still not sure exactly why they've kidnapped her, and she doesn't want to stay around for whatever they have in mind.

That stray thought gives her pause, and Relena contemplates the situation more. Why _did_ they kidnap her? What could they possibly hope to achieve by locking her away somewhere? Do they think that she'll help them if they threaten her?

Sadly, Relena doesn't think that they want to keep her captive because she's their biggest opposition. While she is very much against the agenda that they're trying to push forward, her voice has been silenced every time she's tried to speak up on the matter. Relena still doesn't know if her fellow parliament members are doing it on purpose, or if they just assume that she couldn't possibly have anything new to say.

Whatever the reason, it's extremely aggravating. Relena's the Vice Foreign Minister, and they're discussing increasing taxes on the colonies. Surely, they should _want_ her opinion on the subject. Surely, they should ask for her help, defer to her department? None of them have so far. Even those as opposed to the proposal as Relena is haven't made any effort to include her in their side of the arguments. It's maddening.

And so is being carried around like a sack of potatoes, she has to admit. Who do these men think they are? Don't they care how she'll react to this later? Perhaps they don't. Relena can't understand their thinking. Why her? Don't they care about the repercussions of kidnapping her at all?

Apparently, they don't. Either because they believe her that impotent (and they might not be entirely wrong about that, is the infuriating thing), or because they're not planning on ever releasing her.

Before Relena can let herself over-think her situation and become too scared to act, she forces herself to take a slow breath and _move_. Her eyes open, and her hands come up to grasp the arms of the man supporting her shoulders. He stops in surprise, but other man holding onto her calves is still walking backwards ahead of them, looking over his shoulder to see where he's going, and so he doesn't notice the first man stop. When he tries to take another step, he's pulled up short. He stumbles.

Relena uses the distraction to yank one of her feet out of his grip and kick him as hard as she can in the stomach. He lets out a grunt as all the air forcefully leaves his lungs, and drops her other foot in order to clutch at his stomach. Relena twists her torso as she drops, pushing away the other man's arms that she's still gripping. She lands in a crouch, and though she feels badly about it (but not nearly enough to hesitate), she punches him hard in the groin.

He shouts and curls over, dropping to his knees. Relena gets to her feet, intending to run past him, but something knocks into her from behind. Suddenly, her face is being smashed into the carpet, and there's an extremely heavy weight on her back.

Gritting her teeth as the first man grabs her right arm and wrenches it up behind her shoulder, Relena forces herself to relax and go with the motion. When he sees that she's not going to struggle any further, he lets up on the pressure some. She almost sobs with relief, because that really had been quite painful. His weight disappears from her back, and his free hand grabs her left shoulder to start pulling her up onto her knees.

Relena follows his lead, breathing deeply now that his weight is no longer crushing her lungs and her airway is clear. She debates waiting longer, but a quick glance shows that the other man is almost back on his feet, and so she'll never have a better chance than this. Swinging her head back as fast as she can, Relena ignores the explosion of pain in the back of her skull when she connects with the face of the man behind her.

He curses, and his hold on her arm loosens just a little, but he doesn't let go. Frustrated, Relena turns sideways and slams her shoulder against his chest, pushing upwards with her legs. It hurts, because her right arm's still in his grip and it's being twisted around horribly, and he's so much heavier than she expected, but she digs her feet into the floor and uses her leverage to push him backwards. They fall to the floor together, landing hard, with Relena the one on top of him this time.

It's almost intimate, she thinks half-hysterically, and then there's an extremely painful pop in her shoulder. She screams, and lashes out blindly through the sudden tears in her eyes, punching him with her left fist.

It connects with his nose, and blood starts spraying everywhere. Part of Relena is horrified that she did that to another person, but the rest of her is exultant. He finally lets go of her arm in order to grab his nose. Free, she pushes herself to her feet and starts running.

The other man is upright again, stumbling but reaching out to grab her, and Relena throws herself to the side just in time to escape his lunge. She's not crying any longer, but her face is still wet and her eyesight is blurry, and she needs to get to the elevators before these two completely regain their senses or the three men still in the conference room come out here to see what all the commotion is. They must have heard everything, and even now she can see the door starting to open. She needs to get to the elevators-

No.

Relena stops abruptly. She's a fool. The elevators wouldn't do her any good right now. The doors would never open quickly enough. What is she thinking?

Blaming it on the adrenaline and panic, Relena whirls back around and runs the other way to the end of the hallway as fast as she can. There's more cursing behind her, and a shout from the now-open door of the conference room, but she's deaf to their words now. All Relena can hear is the voice in her head screaming _run, run, run, run!_

Relena has instinctively curled her right arm up against her chest, but her shoulder still aches sharply with every step that she takes. She slams her free hand against the door leading to the stairs, and is in the stairwell a second later. It flashes through Relena's mind that she should disable the door somehow, lock it, bar it from opening, but she doesn't know how and there's no time, and she needs to move-!

Up or down, and there's no time for her to hesitate. All Relena knows is that up means staying in this hotel and down means an exit, and her feet are thundering down the stairs before she processes that she's already made a decision. Her breaths are coming out in loud pants, and her shoes are clattering horribly loudly, and they're going to find her any second.

She has to run faster but she can barely breathe, and her arm hurts, hurts, hurts. How does Heero _do_ things like this all the time? Relena wants to find somewhere in order to hide and cry, but she doesn't have the time.

There's an explosion of noise behind her, shouting that she can just barely hear over her own heartbeat. Relena ignores it all, has to, and runs down the stairs as fast as she can move. Part of her wants to slow down on the turns, worried that she's going to twist an ankle, or slip and fall head-first over the railing, but the rest of her is too scared and instead she tries to run even faster.

She can't breathe, and she can't think, and she started out on the twelfth floor, so how many turns does she have to go until she's at the lobby? How many has she gone already? Relena doesn't know, and she can't focus, and they're right behind her, and she can't _think._

There's a sharp sound, like someone just slammed something heavy into a wall or something, and Relena's so confused that it takes her another few turns and hearing the sound again twice more before she realizes what it is.

They're shooting at her.

Her terror escalates, and Relena really can't help the fact that she shrieks at the next crack, but she only lowers her head and keeps going. She can't stop; she _won't._ She can't believe that these men _are_ _shooting at her._

The next floor is for the lobby, finally. It has to be because the shouting behind her has just become louder, and they've shot at her quickly three times in the last couple of seconds. Knowing this, Relena puts on a burst of speed that she didn't even know she had in her still, and holds out her left hand to smack the door open as hard as she can.

It hits the wall and starts rebounding, but she's already out into the room. The people around her are just blurred faces, and there's even more startled shouting, but Relena's not paying the slightest bit of attention to them. It doesn't occur to her to stop now that there are witnesses; she doesn't even know if she can make herself stop running anymore.

She's halfway across the lobby when she hears the stairwell door slam open again behind her. She doesn't pause. There's more shooting, and more screams, and Relena runs straight for the doors leading outside. There's no one in her way, or maybe they see her coming and move aside. Relena doesn't know, and she doesn't care. The sunlight hits her eyes first, and she has to squint through the glare, and then she's outside, she's made it, but the chase isn't over yet, she knows.

Relena runs into the road and through the traffic without pausing, and then down a little side street. The sound of another gunshot breaks through even the noise of the traffic and the bustling city. She's still being pursued.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Relena runs down the side street and then through even more traffic. This time, she's very close to getting hit by a car that swerves to avoid her at the last second. Somehow, this close call breaks through her haze of fear just enough that she pauses on the far sidewalk. Of course, the second after she stops, Relena becomes aware that she's gasping frantically for breath, and she has to double over and breathe deeply for a few seconds.

That's just long enough to clear her head a little bit more. She straightens back up and looks behind her, and sees a commotion at the other end of the side street she just ran through. Not even having gotten enough breath back to curse, and exhausted already, Relena still forces herself to start running again. She's never been gladder in her life that she wears flat shoes while at meetings, but they're still killing her feet with every step.

Relena turns instead of continuing in a straight line like before, and she wants to kick herself for not thinking of this sooner. They would have had an exceptionally easy time finding her if she continued running in the same direction like that. She forces herself to run a block, turn the corner again, and then duck into a random store.

There's a moment of startled silence, and then both employees that she can see begin to exclaim over her at once. Relena moves away from the door, but makes sure that she can still see the sidewalk outside.

"Ma'am!" one of the women calls out, running up to Relena. "Are you alright?!"

Obviously, she's not, but Relena nods at her anyway, and then directs her gaze to the second woman still at the register, and tells her, "Call the Preventers, please. Tell them that there's been shooting at the Hôtel Métropole."

Relena pulls out her own cell, but she's not dialing Preventers. While the second woman is calling them, and the first woman is running into the back for something, Relena calls the only person whose voice she wants to hear right now.

"Relena?" Heero's voice is calm when she answers the phone, and it instantly soothes Relena's nerves. "What's wrong?"

Because of course Heero knows that something is wrong. Relena lets out a sigh, and then admits, "I did something stupid. You know that private meeting Senator Hittun and the others wanted me to attend this morning?"

Heero's voice immediately takes on a displeased tone. "The one that I told you wasn't worth attending? Relena, this is your morning off. Please tell me that you didn't waste it on those idiots."

The first woman returns from the back of the store, carrying what Relena recognizes as a first-aid kit. She's not sure why. There's nothing in there that can help her arm, which she's now keeping tucked up tightly against her side. Then the woman drops to her knees in front of Relena and starts pulling out gauze from the kit. Relena follows the path of the woman's eyes, and-

Oh. "Oh," she says, her voice sounding dazed even to her own ears, "I was shot."

Perhaps she shouldn't have said that out loud while she's still on the phone with Heero. "You _what_?" Heero demands. "Relena, what's going on? Where are you?"

Relena looks around the store, but there's no handy sign displaying their name. It's an upscale boutique, which is all that she can tell from the expensive clothing arranged tastefully inside the store. "A clothing store. About a block or two away from the hotel." She pauses. "I think. Heero, I don't know, I just ran. They tried to drug me, and I managed to get away, but I got injured."

Before she can babble more, Heero starts talking. "Okay. It's okay, Relena. I'll come find you. Just stay where you are. Did they follow you out of the hotel?"

Relena nods, even though Heero can't see her. She's clutching the phone to her ear, holding it like a lifeline, and she can't help the small cry of pain she lets out when the woman suddenly puts pressure on her calf. "I'm fine," she says hurriedly, before Heero gets the wrong idea. "Someone's bandaging my leg. I don't think it's too serious." It hurts, though. Her shoulder hurts worse, and Relena bites down on her bottom lip to keep from crying.

"I'm already on my way," Heero reassures her. "I'm getting someone on your security team to track your phone, but in the meantime, I'll look for you. Can you ask someone there for the name of the store?"

Relena can do that. As long as she doesn't have to move, she can do it. "Excuse me," she asks both of the women, who are still looking at her anxiously like they expect her to fall over at any second, one of them still on the phone trying to get through to Preventers. Relena kind of expects herself that she might collapse soon. She's about to ask the name of the store when the woman stops fussing over her leg and starts ineffectively mopping up the blood on the floor.

Blood. On the floor.

Relena goes cold all over. With a feeling of betrayal, her gaze blankly follows the line of blood across the floor and to the door, where it continues along the street. "Oh my god," she breathes out. She's been leaving a trail for them to find her.

Heero's voice in her ear brings Relena out of her stupor. "What happened?"

"Is there a back way out of this store?" she asks frantically, gesturing to the blood. The woman blinks, follows it back to the door like Relena did a moment ago, and then blanches, her face paling. She nods, and gestures for Relena to come with her.

To Heero, Relena informs her, "I left a trail. I didn't realize I got shot."

That's all she needs to say. To the woman who's leading her to a side door, Relena says, "You both need to leave immediately. Get out of here before they arrive."

The woman nods, but Relena can't stay to make sure that they listen. She's off down the narrow alley, her leg and arm both throbbing with pain, but she has to ignore the pain for now as best she can. "Tell me the next street sign you see," Heero orders, her voice brisk. She doesn't sound panicked, and that alone helps keep Relena grounded.

She runs down a few alleys, and gets hopelessly confused about which street she's on in relation to the hotel, but calls out a name when she finally sees a sign. "Rue aux Choux."

There's a pause, and then Heero's giving her instructions. "Turn right onto that road. After two blocks, go right for three, then go up three more, and then left for half a block on Rue de Ligne. You'll be at a cathedral. Get inside, and I'll find you there."

Does that mean Relena's on her own for now? She chides herself for the thought. Relena's not a silly little girl anymore, and she's fully capable of running a few more blocks. Now that she's thinking more clearly, and not just reacting in a panic, Relena has no excuse for the swell of dread that rises in her at the thought of Heero hanging up. "All right," she forces herself to say, "I'll just hang up and let you-"

"No," Heero interjects sharply. "Do _not_ hang up until I come to get you, okay? Just stay on the line, Relena."

She really can't help the relieved smile that forms on her face at her friend's order, despite everything. "Okay."

Running on her leg is killing her, and she's getting a very painful stitch in her side, but she doesn't dare stop. Relena calls out each street name as she comes to it, letting Heero know her progress. She also hopes that Heero will keep her from somehow getting lost.

When she finally reaches the cathedral, Relena staggers up the steps and runs inside with relief. "I'm here," she says, once she catches her breath a little. She walks over to a pew and practically falls down on it, grateful for the rest, though she makes sure to sit down where she can watch the door, just in case.

"I'm almost there, too," Heero lets her know. "I'll be there in less than five minutes."

Despite everything, Relena laughs breathlessly. "Do I want to know how many traffic laws you're breaking right now?"

She can practically hear the smile in Heero's voice through the phone. "Probably not," Heero admits.

Relena crouches down so that she can lift her leg and prop it up on the pew, biting her lip again to keep from screaming as she jars both the wound in her calf and her shoulder. "I'm not complaining, for once."

"Glad to hear it."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Now that Relena's finally allowed herself to stop moving, she doesn't know what she feels more - exhausted, or in pain. Mostly the latter, including the stitch still hurting her side from running so much. The wound on her leg is pulsing horribly, and her arm is just one constant ache now. She should have it up in a sling, or at least wrapped close against her side, Relena knows, but all she has to work with is her jacket, and she can't arrange that one-handed.

So Relena sits and waits for Heero, nervously watching the doors and the few other people present. None of them are paying her any attention, which she prefers right now. They seem busy in prayer. Briefly, Relena mentally offers up heartfelt thanks of her own for the sanctuary.

Five minutes passes by too slowly, even though Heero keeps her phone on, and asks for Relena's status every minute. Relena's distantly aware that she's going into shock a bit, and is becoming more unresponsive as time passes because she's close to passing out on the pew. Still, she forces herself to respond, even as it becomes more difficult to keep her eyes open.

After what feels like a year, Relena sees Heero walk briskly into the cathedral. Her eyes quickly scan the room and find Relena, and then her shoulders relax. Relena offers her friend a tired smile.

"Heero. You're here." That sounds inane even in her head, but she can't think of anything else to say.

"Relena." Heero looks Relena over, paying specific attention to her arm and leg. She helps Relena carefully sit up, and then Heero uses her own jacket to bind Relena's arm in a tight sling. The movement hurts, jolting her arm and sharpening the pain for a few endless moments before it dulls again. Relena tries to keep from wincing, but doesn't succeed. At least she doesn't scream again. Someone in the church would have to notice _that_.

"Do you think you can stand up?" Heero asks her. Relena looks at her leg and bites her lip, but nods. She can't stay here, and while Heero could carry her, Relena knows that her friend would prefer to keep her hands free in case someone shows up. Heero puts a firm and steady arm around her waist to support her, and Relena slowly lowers her injured leg to the floor. It's fallen asleep, and her first step is a lurching hobble.

"Sorry," Relena says. Her eyes suddenly fill with tears, and they start dripping down her face. "Oh Heero, I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you." Her teeth are starting to chatter slightly, and she knows that's not a good sign. Relena must have lost more blood than she'd thought.

Shaking her head, Heero helps Relena straighten back up. "It's not your fault. What happened?"

Relena takes a deep breath and starts telling her. "They tried to drug my tea." She lets out a little laugh. "I thought I was being silly by not drinking it, but here we are."

Heero smiles, but it's bitter. "There's no such thing as being too paranoid when it comes to politics."

Relena can't say that she disagrees. They take one hobbling step, and then Relena has to stop and catch her breath. Her leg is worse than she thought. It feels like her muscles are on fire. She wants to brush away the tears from her cheeks, but her one working arm is around Heero's waist for support.

Heero prods her to continue with her story. Relena has to scramble her thoughts back into order. "They carried me out into the hallway, and I tried to get away but one of them wouldn't let go of my arm." She doesn't have to gesture for Heero to understand which arm Relena means. "Then I ran down the stairs and got outside. I called you when I ran into a store."

She's going to have to check on those employees later, or have Heero do it while Relena's in the hospital getting her injuries seen to. Relena hopes that those two are fine. That one woman may have very well saved her life.

"Probably," Heero agrees. Relena blinks, and then realizes belatedly that she's been speaking her thoughts out loud. "I'll make sure they're fine," Heero says. That's a relief. "When did they start shooting at you?"

Relena blinks at the question, not sure why Heero's asking. "In the stairwell," she says.

When she looks over, Relena sees that Heero's frowning in concentration. "It's likely that they weren't aiming to actually hit you right away, then. I find it hard to believe that they could miss so many times in such an enclosed area."

Relena hadn't considered that. "Then why were they shooting?" she asks, trying to distract herself while they slowly leave the building. When they finally get outside, Relena feels exposed. She knows that Heero will keep her safe, but she can't help worrying. What if they hurt Heero, too?

Heero shakes her head. "Most likely to scare you into stopping. Even the wound on your leg was probably only intended to stop you. They wanted you alive for something."

Well, that does make sense, Relena thinks fuzzily. If they wanted her dead, they would have put poison in her tea, not a knock-out drug. Still. "Why, though?" she asks, not really expecting an answer. "Why would they do something this outrageous?"

"I don't know," Heero answers anyway, her voice low and hard. "But I'm going to find out."

Relena ends up falling asleep on their way to the hospital, which she's sorry for because she screams in a nurse's face when she finally wakes up in a panic, not remembering where she is. Luckily, Heero's right there to reassure Relena that she's fine.

After Relena calms down, though, she notices what time it is and panics again. She sits up with some effort, not used to only having one working arm. Heero supports her, while the nurse tries to both scold Relena and call her doctor to the room.

Relena ignores everything but Heero. "Are the conferences still going on?" she demands.

After looking into her eyes and likely seeing the determination there, Heero sighs and nods. "They've moved to the Hilton, but yes, they resumed meetings at 1." It's just after three now.

Relena grits her teeth, this time in anger. She doesn't even want to know what the other parliament members are saying about her absence. "I need to get there."

Heero doesn't look surprised. "Those three are going to be there, too," she cautions. Senator Hittun and the others, she means. Heero's not a Preventers agent right now, and so she can't arrest them. While Relena can file a report against them if she goes through the proper channels, she isn't holding out much hope that anything will really come of it, even though she knows that Une and Sally wouldn't just let the matter drop. It's still Relena's word against those three men that they were even involved.

And meanwhile, the conference meetings are ongoing, and they're not going to stop for even this. Relena has to be there, to make sure that no one tries to speak for her and influence everyone else.

She lifts her chin and looks Heero in the eyes. "I know." And she does. "I still need to be there, Heero."

Her friend sighs again, but turns her laptop around so that Relena can see what's on the screen. Relena's utterly unsurprised to see that it's showing them a live feed of the inside of the conference room, with the audio muted but available. Relena smiles at Heero, and knows that while she can't do anything through official channels yet, Heero will at the very least have those three men under 24-hour surveillance from now on. Already, Relena feels safer.

Yes, she can do this. Even more, she must.

When her doctor comes into the room, Relena orders him to bring her some discharge papers. Naturally, he protests. She's had such a shock, and she's such a delicate thing; won't she rest for a couple of days? Surely her office can get along without her for that long, right?

That's exactly what Relena's afraid of. She doesn't relent, and neither does Heero, and eventually, the papers are signed. Heero drives her over to the hotel, stopping along the way to get Relena's prescription filled and find them both some food. Relena devours hers, knowing that she's going to need the energy. She has another four or five hours of meetings, quite possibly, all while in the presence of the men who tried to kidnap her for some unknown reason.

Heero's going to look into it while Relena's stuck in the conference room. Relena knows that means those men will have their entire life histories hacked into before sunset, but she doesn't feel guilty about it in the slightest.

Yes, she's ready to face them now. Which is a good thing, because it's not like Relena has a choice here, really.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Relena knows that she's making the right decision, but she still takes a minute or two to regain her composure while standing outside of the conference room before entering.

Part of Relena really enjoys the sudden silence that descends when she opens the door and walks inside. She ignores everyone muttering, and walks calmly towards her chair, sitting down as gently as she can. Relena's not in extreme pain right now because her pills have finally kicked in, so she's both thinking clearly and feeling a little muggy, and the last thing she needs is to stumble in front of all of their judgmental gazes.

Only after she's firmly seated does Relena force herself to look around at her so-called colleagues. Every eye in the room is on her. She doesn't let her gaze linger on anyone, even the three that she most dreads looking at. Instead, Relena forces herself to remain calm, to reveal nothing but determination in her eyes.

Heero following her into the room may also have something to do with the looks that Relena's currently receiving. That, and her arm being bound up in a sling, though thankfully none of them can also see the bandages on her calf. Still, her hair's been brushed, her face washed and makeup reapplied, and her clothes changed. Relena knows that she looks composed and ready for the conference to resume.

And she's only three hours late, despite being chased and shot, then fainting from blood loss and shock and exhaustion, and then having to hurry over here and fix herself up again.

Idly, Relena wonders what all of them are thinking, and how many of them even recognize Heero without her Preventers uniform on. While her face as a teenager was well-known just after she joined the peacekeeping organization, Heero's done her best to stay out of the spotlight since then. Standing at Relena's elbow now, casually attired in jeans and a short-sleeved polo, Heero looks nothing like an agent, and nothing like her teenage self.

With this in mind, Relena quietly clears her throat, even though everyone's attention is already on her. All of their gazes sharpen in response, especially Senator Hittun's, and Relena enjoys watching him sweat for a few seconds. She makes a point to meet his eyes dead-on right before she speaks.

"Apologies, gentlemen," she says, instead of whatever Senator Hittun obviously expects her to say. She gets some brief satisfaction out of his blatant surprise. "I was unexpectedly delayed, as you can see. Where are we in the talks?"

There's a pause when no one says anything. Then, Governor Reckon shifts. Relena can't quite decipher the look on his face, but he doesn't seem angry or annoyed or worried. Curious. If anything, he seems to already know that whatever happened to her was much more complicated than a simple 'delay'. Well, she can discuss his suspicious lack of reaction with Heero later, since Relena knows that her friend is currently studying each and every parliament member while they're in turn busy watching Relena.

Finally, Governor Reckon nods and explains the current proceedings. "We were discussing the prohibition of certain items being exported to the colonies. I assume that you're still against the ban?"

Relena doesn't even want to know. As she feared, there's been someone speaking to everyone in her name while she was absent. She's reluctantly grateful to Governor Reckon for handing her such a perfect opportunity to clear the air on this matter right away.

She nods in agreement. "Yes, I'm still against any items that are circulated legally between the nations of Earth being prohibited when it comes to those same materials being shipped to the colonies."

From there, the talks start up again. Relena's voice is quickly overshadowed and dismissed, which is sadly something she's become all too used to. Still, because it's such a familiar turn of events, Relena quickly finds herself relaxing into the rhythm of her job.

After a few hours, they recess, and Relena heads to the bathroom. Before the next round, Relena is going to request that another chair be set down beside her for Heero. While she knows that her friend would never complain, and could likely last hours more standing there before she grows uncomfortable, Relena's feet are aching in sympathy just watching Heero stand there for so long.

Heero checks out the bathroom first, of course, and then Relena walks inside. No one's in there, which she's expecting. It's rare for another guest to use a hotel's public restrooms instead of the ones in their own rooms, and Relena's the only woman who's part of the conference. At least there's no line. Small favors.

When she's leaving, Relena grabs the handle and starts to pull the door slowly open with her left hand. Suddenly, there's a sound like someone kicking something hard, and the door flies towards her. She flinches back, but just before it can hit Relena in the face, Heero's hand is there to slam against the door and halt its progress, stopping it from breaking her nose. Heero pulls her to the side and wrenches the door open all of the way, but the man who tried to hurt her is already turning around and leaving.

In fact, he's moving very quickly, sprinting down the hallway away from them. While Relena is still processing what happened, her new dosage of pain medication slowing down her thoughts just enough that she's lagging behind mentally a few seconds, Heero's already running the man down and tackling him from behind. Very efficiently, she has him restrained and gagged with his own tie before Relena even catches up to them.

Relena shakes her head ruefully at how calm Heero can be while chasing someone. "Is this about what I think it is?" she asks, although she's almost positive that she's guessed correctly.

Heero nods, still straddling the man's back, much like the position Relena was in earlier with that guard, only reversed. "Another attempt to kidnap you, I think. This one was sloppy, though. They must be really desperate."

And they obviously didn't recognize Heero after all, or know of her ability to efficiently handle something like this, and so they figured a second attempt was worth trying, Relena bets. She's busy wondering what the two of them are supposed to do with this man before the conference talks start back up when Heero pushes her knee further into the man's back and pulls out her phone one-handed.

It's only then that the complete ramifications of the last couple of minutes hits Relena, and she meets Heero's triumphant look with one of her own. This man has to be working for Senator Hittun and the others, and now he's a captured suspect for Une and the rest of Preventers to question.

How stupid of them, Relena thinks, to hand her such ammunition. Not that she's complaining.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Relena walks back into the conference room alone. Heero's waiting outside for some Preventers agents to arrive, and in the meantime, Relena has no doubt that Heero is also questioning the man herself. Knowing that they've actually caught someone involved in Relena's botched kidnapping thrills her, especially when she sees the discomfort on the faces of Senator Hittun and the others when Relena comes back from the break so obviously fine.

Let them wonder, she thinks. This is her game now, and Heero's. Relena knows that her friend won't let the man she caught be taken away until he tells Heero everything she wants to know.

Relena barely pays attention to the rest of the evening's discussions. Nothing gets decided; nothing's going to be decided on anytime soon. These talks are a farce. Then, about an hour before they're finally done for the day, Relena's phone vibrates. She unlocks her screen to see that Heero's messaged her.

 _Mission accomplished._

Relena can't help but smile, though she tries to keep her elation contained. The man's probably on his way to Preventers Headquarters right now, and he's apparently being very helpful by already giving up her fellow parliament members for their roles in trying to kidnap her. Even Relena's pain medication slowly wearing off again can't completely dampen her enthusiasm.

Even better, when they're finally allowed to leave for the day, Relena walks slowly out of the conference room just in time to see Preventers agents arresting the three conspirators. Everyone else has stopped and is unashamedly staring, or attempting to ask questions, but Relena looks through the crowd until she spots Heero leaning against a wall, and then makes her way over.

"How well did it go?" Relena asks, once she's close enough that they can hear each other over the loud din in the hallway.

Heero tilts her head to the side, silently gesturing for Relena to follow her, and both of them walk down a side hallway to get farther away from the crowd. Relena has no doubt that Heero has the entire layout of the hotel memorized, and knows another way to leave the building besides through the front doors. Relena approves of them being inconspicuous, even as she wonders if she should perhaps make a formal statement and let the media see and document her injuries.

She's too tired to deal with everything right now, though. Relena makes a mental note to arrange a small press conference for tomorrow.

Heero waits until they're inside her car before she speaks. "He's on Governor Kreely's security team, actually, so he's not one of the men they hired specifically to kidnap you," she says, starting the engine and driving them away from the hotel.

Relena snorts loudly in contempt, since there's no one around to hear her except Heero, who's not going to think any less of her for uttering such an inelegant sound. "Do we know who they did hire?" she asks. It probably doesn't matter much anymore, since Relena highly doubts that they're going to attempt to kidnap her again now that there would be no point. Still, she's curious.

Heero nods, not looking away from the road, thankfully. "Not yet, but those three likely understand that things will be better for them in the long run if they confess everything to Preventers before a trial becomes necessary."

Relena leans back against the headrest and closes her eyes. Even with her nap earlier (if she can call passing out from shock and blood loss a nap), she's exhausted. And not just physically. This whole day has also been mentally exhausting. "Did the security guard at least know what those three wanted to kidnap me for in the first place?"

It's a few seconds before Heero responds, and Relena doesn't like the silence. Heero's not usually one to spare someone's feelings by mincing her words. "Zechs," she finally says.

Milliardo? Relena takes a few moments to contemplate this. "Mars, you mean."

Mars, and more importantly, the way they're completely dependent on Earth and the colonies for everything until terraforming on the planet fully takes, and even then, they'll still need to import everything else.

"According to that guy, they wanted to negotiate an increase of taxes for all imports to Mars, and were going to threaten to hurt you if Zechs didn't comply."

Even though she tries to stop it, a bitter laugh escapes Relena's lips. She was chased and almost drugged and actually _shot_ today, and the reason why was so she could be dumped and locked up in a room somewhere while some men played hardball with each other? Relena doesn't know why she's even surprised.

While she's thinking about all of this, Heero gets a call. "Yuy."

Relena doesn't bother to pay attention to the conversation. It's either personal or Preventers. Would they still update Heero on the situation, even though she's been suspended? Well, Sally would, for sure. Une too, probably. The call's brief, and when Heero hangs up from her headset, she's smiling a little.

It makes Relena smile too just to see Heero happy. "Good news?"

Heero nods. "One of them is already talking. Apparently, the charges of attempted manslaughter spooked him. They really weren't trying to hurt you, only detain you until after they dealt with Zechs." Heero's eyes narrow, though thankfully for Relena's nerves, she still doesn't look away from the traffic.

Why is Relena only important as part of someone else's plans? Relena hates that more than anything else. She's not a little girl anymore, and she shouldn't have to constantly deal with being treated like one. "It wouldn't have worked anyway," she says eventually.

"You mean with Zechs?" Heero asks. "No, it wouldn't have."

While Relena knows very little about her brother, she does know that Milliardo isn't someone who would bow down to anyone, let alone three politicians who claimed to be holding her hostage. Even if he believed them, Milliardo still wouldn't have agreed to their demands. He has the people of Mars to protect, and those increased taxes would have destabilized their already fragile economy even further.

Relena sighs. "What a waste."

Heero frowns. "Today's talks, or their plan?"

The question makes Relena groan. "Both? I meant this whole conference, actually. We're all still too divided as a people. We're never going to come to an agreement about those taxes. And I still have the rest of the week to look forward to," she adds, her voice dry.

"Well," Heero says, "stay away from the tea and you should be fine."

Relena laughs softly, even though it's really not all that funny. "Heero?" she says, waiting until her friend makes a low sound of inquiry in the back of her throat. "Thanks."

She doesn't need to say what for. Heero smiles briefly in acknowledgement. Relena's so grateful to have her as a friend, as someone who appreciates Relena for more than her money or name or family. It's a priceless gift, and one that Relena treasures.

Maybe this conference hasn't been such a complete waste, after all. It's certainly forced Relena to rethink a few things, and has brought home some hard truths as well. Now she has to deal with that information.

Glancing over at Heero again, Relena is content in the knowledge that at least her friend will back her up unconditionally, whatever she decides.

Relena just has to figure out what that decision is going to be. All she knows right now is that she's tired of only being seen as a pawn in somebody else's game.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Another day, another round of talks. Today isn't going to go the way that any of the others expect, though, and Relena feels a lot of satisfaction about this. It's the one thought that keeps her from grumbling too much about forcing herself to wake up so early in the morning when all that she wants to do is snuggle further into her pillows.

She does get up, eventually, and starts getting ready. It's unexpectedly difficult with only one working arm, and she's running just a tad late when her driver pulls up in front of the conference hotel, but no matter. Relena being exactly on time today isn't important.

When Relena walks into the conference room, there's an instant clamor for her attention that she finds ironic. Some of her colleagues offer condolences, some demand explanations, and already some are angling to run a joint press conference with her about the whole ordeal.

Relena walks amongst them, replying with all the appropriate courtesies, and all the while wondering where this attention was yesterday. Of course, they're only interested in her now that the media has become involved and some of their fellow parliament members have been taken into Preventers custody.

Eventually, though, Relena tires of the reassurances and veiled comments digging for more information, and drifts slowly towards her chair. Once she's made it plain to everyone that she's sitting down, the others reluctantly follow her example, getting ready for another long day of pointless arguments. Likely, all of the chaos yesterday was the highlight of the conference for the others.

Relena can't say the same.

No, the bright spot of this week's meetings for Relena comes when she's the first person to stand up and walk over to the podium today, even though President Carlton is clearly already beginning to start up the debates once again. She ignores him, and as she moves down the rows of chairs and into the center of the room, slowly the morning's chatter dies down.

The quiet is calming, and Relena feels at peace. She thought that maybe she'd feel some regret, standing here at last and looking out at all of their expectant faces, but in truth there's nothing inside of Relena's heart except the conviction that what she's about to do is the right thing.

"Gentlemen," she says, greeting them all. "Thank you for allowing me to speak." She says the ritual words, but never before have they been uttered so sarcastically, and Relena sees more than one or two of her colleagues shift in their seats. No matter.

Relena looks straight ahead and begins. "As Vice Foreign Minister, part of my office's purview has always been trying to keep the bridge of communication open between Earth's governments and the colonies. When I was assigned to this task so many years ago, I was sure that I could use my position to facilitate a better understanding between all nations, and to unify our people."

When she pauses, every eye is intensely on her. None of them seem to be anticipating where she's going with this, and that makes what she says next all the sweeter.

"Instead, my office has become adept at silencing all of the protests you gentlemen do not wish to hear. Including those of myself. We on Earth have not become closer with the people of space. If anything, conferences like this one and what happened here this week demonstrates that we are drifting further and further apart from our goal of complete unity. I foresee not a continuance of peace in our future, but tyranny and oppression if we continue on this way."

Someone finally speaks up in protest. "Miss Peacecraft, I understand that you've had a trying week, but laying such serious accusations in front of this august body is ludicrous." Relena looks around to see who it is. It's Minister Gilon. He looks scandalized. Why? Because Relena's daring to speak the truth? The look Relena sends his way is contemptuous, and even though she says nothing at all in response, he still closes his mouth and sits back, looking chastised.

After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Relena pointedly continues. "Perhaps it is ludicrous," she admits. "Perhaps it's silly and naïve to expect unity when there's no actual setup currently in place with the main goal of bringing us all together as one people. Very well. I hereby pledge to devote my time and energy to correcting that problem. Humanity should not be divided. Our differences should not be so insurmountable."

She pauses again, and waits, knowing that someone else will speak up eventually. And someone does, though it's certainly not Minister Gilon. "What do you mean by all of that, Miss Peacecraft?" Governor Reckon asks.

Relena smiles. "Simply this - I am no longer going to be a parliament member of the Earth Sphere United Nations. That name is a misnomer. There's nothing united about us, even after all this time. Therefore, gentlemen, I'm resigning my post."

If she'd thought that everyone was being quiet before, it's nothing compared to the stunned silence that follows her last statement. Relena bears their incredulity with all the grace that she can muster, standing with her back straight and her head high, waiting for their response. Will someone try to talk her out of this? Relena doesn't think so, not if she's read them right, and she knows that she has. Some of the other parliament members might be displeased for political reasons, but none of them really want her here personally, and that means she's free to leave.

There's a lot of coughing and shifting, and Relena is internally amused at how none of them want to brave being the first to speak after her announcement. And that's really why she's leaving, in the end. All of these men are content to remain stagnant, to change nothing, and for too long Relena has been letting them pull her into the same inertia. No more.

Governor Reckon leans forward. Relena faces him, still inwardly serene. He must be able to see the conviction in her eyes, because he doesn't even bother with a token protest about how she's abruptly abandoning her post. Besides, she has no doubt that her seat will be filled with someone of his choosing within the week.

"Well then," he says, standing up and walking forward. He's not in any rush, but deliberately walks up to her side and extends a hand. It's his left one, due to her injury, and Relena has to admit that Governor Reckon can be considerate when he wants to be. "We wish you luck, Miss Peacecraft. You will be missed."

Relena rather doubts that, but she can be gracious here and now. "My thanks," she replies. She turns back towards the rest of them, these men of supposed greatness and austerity, and very carefully doesn't let any of her current thoughts show.

She's going to make all of them obsolete eventually, every single one of them.

Still keeping her face professionally blank, Relena nods to them all one more time, turns away from the podium, and calmly walks towards the doors. There's some muttering behind her now, from those who simply can't wait until she leaves the room before speaking to their neighbors about her startling speech, but Relena ignores them all. Nothing in this room is her problem anymore.

When the doors finally close behind her, Relena leans against them for just a moment, breathing a sigh of relief. Then she straightens up and walks down the hallway. She's not surprised to find Heero waiting for her just outside of the building.

Heero falls into step beside her as she descends the stairs. "Nothing like starting the day off with retirement," Heero says, and her voice is full of approval.

Relena lets Heero's confidence boost her own, and she laughs softly. "I hope you were recording that," she admits. "Some of their faces were hilarious."

"Of course I did," Heero confirms. "We can watch the replay later." Relena laughs again, and Heero turns to look at her with one eyebrow raised. "You seem happy."

She grins. "I am." That's when they reach Heero's jeep, and Relena blinks when Heero opens the door for her. Sitting on the seat is a teddy bear with a card attached, and a pink balloon that says 'Congratulations!' on it.

Relena has to lean against the side of the car, she's laughing so hard. "How did you know?" she finally asks, once she gets her breath back.

Heero smirks. "I didn't know you were quitting," she admits, "but I knew that you had something big planned."

Relena picks up the bear and sits down, stroking its soft head. The bear is adorable, light pink with a lovely lavender ribbon around its throat, and Relena should be too old for a new stuffed toy but she loves this one already.

"It's beautiful," she admits. "Thank you, Heero."

Her friend smiles. "You're easy to shop for," she says, and that startles another laugh out of Relena. She supposes that she is. "So," Heero continues, "what are you going to do now?"

Relena sighs, but she's still smiling. "I haven't figured out all the details yet," she admits. "I just know that I want to make a difference, Heero, and I wasn't going to in there."

Heero nods. "That's a good reason to quit," she agrees.

Relena remembers little Mariemaia Khushrenada kidnapping her because Relena's voice once held power, because people would listen to her and she could make a difference. Relena wonders now if she can really be someone like that again. She has to at least try.

"I thought so too," Relena says to Heero, pushing those thoughts from her mind for now. "So," Relena asks, "want to go shopping for a bit? I don't have that press conference until tomorrow." Today is her first job-free day in years; she deserves to spend it doing something frivolous.

The look that Heero shoots Relena's way says no, she isn't interested in shopping, thanks, but after a minute of Relena still looking expectant, Heero sighs in defeat. She'll endure a couple of hours in some shops so that Relena can have fun, and that's all that matters.

"You can take me out to a shooting range later," Relena compromises. Because she hasn't practiced in far too long a time, especially with her left hand, and while Relena still doesn't agree with violence, she hates being helpless even more.

Heero grins suddenly at her suggestion. "You just want to show up any guys that are watching."

Relena snorts. "So do you," she replies.

"Well," Heero says, snickering under her breath, "I guess we better get the boring part of today out of the way first. How's Greek for lunch?"

Relena hugs her new bear close to her stomach, so happy that she can barely keep it contained. "I think it sounds like the perfect first lunch after quitting."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

It takes a few days for Relena to remember to contact her brother and tell him about the recent changes in her life, and if that doesn't say everything about their relationship, she doesn't know what would. She does remember eventually, though, and so Relena schedules some time for a call. Not a hard task to accomplish now that she has plenty of leisure time.

To her pleasure (and hidden relief), it's Noin who answers the vid call. The older woman smiles when she sees her. "Relena! What a surprise."

Relena knows that Noin doesn't mean her statement in a negative way, but a flicker of guilt still runs through her. Relena should keep in mind that contacting Mars doesn't mean just speaking to her brother, but also to a woman whose faith in her has never wavered, and who protected and counseled Relena when she was in great need of both.

Relena owes Noin a lot, even though the other woman would disagree, and a simple call on a regular basis shouldn't be too much to ask of her.

"Noin," Relena greets warmly, happy to see her. "How are you?"

She looks well, which is a relief to Relena. Life on Mars clearly hasn't drained Noin of her enthusiasm or kindness, and Relena is happy to see her healthy and happy. Of course, the fact that Noin's happily married to Relena's older brother might have something to do with that.

"I'm fine," Noin reassures her. "There's been some minor issues with the new atmospheric satellites, but we're handling it." Relena's heart clenches with worry, even though she knows that Noin and her brother are more than capable of handling any problems that come up. "And you?"

Right. Relena needs to tell her now. Noin will be concerned, but better that than ignorant about current changes within the ESUN. Relena takes a deep breath, and starts with the easy part. "Actually, I resigned my post as Vice Foreign Minister recently."

Noin takes her time with that, but she doesn't look disappointed, and Relena relaxes. It's silly to worry about Noin's approval after everything's already done and over with, but Noin had been so very proud of Relena for taking up that position all those years ago.

"I see," she says eventually. "Was this truly your decision, Relena?"

Relena smiles. Of course Noin's worried about her instead of being upset. "Yes," she affirms. "It was time for me to do something different." What that something is, she doesn't know for sure yet, but what Relena does know is that she isn't going to figure it out while staying at her previous job.

Noin smiles again, looking relieved. "That's good, then. You look much better than the last time we talked."

That was a few years ago, Relena's sure. Yes, she probably does look better now. More rested, anyways. "There's more," she says, only a little reluctantly. "I was-"

Although Noin says nothing to interrupt her, Relena stops talking when Noin's attention is suddenly diverted. Relena's brother must have walked into the room. He's the only one who can always capture Noin's attention so effortlessly. Noin leaves the screen for a moment, and Relena can hear soft muttering in the background.

This means that she's prepared when the next face she sees is her brother's instead. "Relena," he greets her. He looks as unreadable to her as ever, but she's long since stopped letting that bother her.

She nods in return. "Milliardo." It's the name she always uses to his face, since that's what he prefers, even though she knows that Noin still refers to him as Zechs. Not to mention Heero. Relena wonders at herself and Milliardo, the two siblings with their multiple identities and destinies. In a way, they're two peas in a pod sometimes, even though they barely know each other.

Still, Relena is glad to see for herself that he's alright, and she watches his eyes roam over her face in return, checking that she's okay. His gaze is fond when he looks into her eyes. "You're well?" he asks.

Relena nods again. "Yes, but there was an incident a few days ago," she admits. At this announcement, Noin's face appears suddenly beside Milliardo's, looking very concerned. "What happened?" she asks.

Relena doesn't know a softer way to break the news. "A few members of the ESUN parliament attempted to kidnap me. They wanted tax concessions from Mars."

As she expected, Relena watches her brother's face suddenly go blank. His eyes narrow. "Who, exactly?" he demands.

Relena wonders what he's planning to do to those men, and how. She shakes those unpleasant thoughts from her head. "They're already in Preventers custody," she informs them both. Then, when her brother's expression still doesn't change, she reluctantly gives him their names. "They didn't succeed," she points out then.

Noin looks guilty, as though she still thinks that she should have been present in order to personally stop them. Milliardo looks grim, as though he's preparing for war all over again.

She's not going to let that happen. If nothing else, Relena will not allow herself to be the catalyst of another war.

"Let me handle this," is what she ends up saying. It's not actually a plea, for all that it's phrased like one. Her voice is firm and steady. "Please, Milliardo."

He plainly assesses the stubborn look on Relena's face, and to her surprise, something like contentment flashes across his features. He nods at her. "If that's what you want," he agrees. He pauses then, before saying, "You've grown up well, Relena."

Oh. She's wasn't expecting her brother's approval, and she's not sure how to react now that she has it. Noin's look of pride, and her soft smile, also warms Relena's heart. She blinks back the tears that have suddenly appeared, and smiles genuinely at them both. "I'll take care of it," she promises again. "I'm going to fix everything."

Noin laughs. "I'm looking forward to seeing that," she says.

They all chat together for a few more minutes, her brother reluctantly leaving sooner than Noin due to some obligation, and when Relena signs off, she finds that she's very glad she made this call. Her family and friends are all behind her, supporting her, and knowing this, Relena finally feels ready to start changing her life for the better.


End file.
